Saturday, July 16, 2011

The action is heating up at the Stanley Ladies! 1st-year professional and LPGA rookie Harukyo Nomura opened with a bogey-free 30 on the front to catch 1st-round leader Chie Arimura at -9 through 27 holes, then hung on with 8 pars and a birdie on the medium-length par-4 17th to get to double digits under par. Arimura, who needed an eagle of her own on the hole she had previously gotten an albatross, stumbled a little early on the back with 2 bogeys, but birdied 3 of her last 4 holes to join Nomura at -10 and keep alive her hopes for a wire-to-wire win. Will Nomura get her 2nd JLPGA win in her 2nd start on tour as a professional? Or will Arimura hold on for her 8th JLPGA victory?

A host of very good golfers--1 veteran, some others just starting out, and most in the prime of their careers--will be trying to make both questions moot. Midori Yoneyama has collected 8 trophies since she 1st started playing on the JLPGA in 1998, but she hasn't won since 2007 and had missed the cut in her 2 previous starts before breaking 70 yesterday for only the 5th time this season. Still, she's only 3 shots behind the co-leaders. Even closer are 21-year-olds Asako Fujimoto and Rikako Morita. Fujimoto birdied 3 of her 1st 4 holes and 4 of her last 6 to post a 67 that brought her within 1 shot of the lead, while Morita bounced back from an opening double with a bogey-free 31 on the back that moved her within 2. Among the prime-time players within 5 shots of the lead, Miho Koga, who won the money-list title a few years ago but hasn't been the same player since, fired a 7-birdie 66, tied with Saiki Fujita for 2nd-low round of the day, to pull within 5. Fujita, meanwhile, is tied with Fujimoto only 1 off the lead. But the biggest name in the hunt is none other than Sakura Yokomine, who would be closer than 2 back if it weren't for a 4-hole stretch early on the back in which she made 3 bogeys. Still, just about everyone had their hiccups today: Mi-Jeong Jeon tripled the long par-4 12th to settle for a 69; Eun-A Lim struggled in the same stretch that got Arimura and Yokomine but held on to join Lim and Jeon at -5; and so did recent money-list leader Miki Saiki, who bounced back to 4 off the pace with a pair of consecutive late birdies.

So this is still anyone's tournament. Who will take charge of it tomorrow? Let's check out the list of contenders and notables: